JOUSTING LEAGUE
' The '''Jousting League of SL' or JL, is a premier SL medieval jousting league organization whose stated goals are to facilitate intra-league play rather than dictate how individual jousts run and to celebrate jousting in all its forms and venues, respecting the personal role-play preferences of each Realm. Its stated principals include promoting more opportunities for intra-league competition and support for each jousting venue regardless of personal preference for lance, list, rules or participants. Website: *joustingleague.com http://www.joustingleague.com/#!stla/c659 Affiliations The Jousting League is an unaffiliated and independent organization in SL to provide a forum for discussing issues and best practices without compliance; promote jousting opportunities regardless of affiliation; and highlight the accomplishments of all participants by tracking the results for any joust a host or participant wishes to report. Establishment The League was officially announced at the 2nd year Anniversary of the SLTA in June, 2013 for the purpose of archiving the results of all jousts in SL and improving intra-league, realm jousting opportunities. Invitations were sent out on its mission, goals, principals and organization in August. The concept for the League grew out of SLTA League Team Jousts and provide a centralized online database for jousts in various Realms. Prior to its creation, results had been archived by the SLTA for 3 years and Celtic Isle for one. Features The Jousting League group in SL is free to join and provides notice rights and group chat open to all members. It can be used by anyone to promote their joust events or enter into civil discourse, discussion regarding joust events, issues and information. The group also presents annual trophies at the SLTA Anniversary for the top first, second, and third winners of the League Leaders award and offers a Professional Code Of Conduct endorsed by many Tournament hosts. Its principal service to the jousting community is the website launched March 4, 2014, coinciding with the 150th Anniversary of the famous passage in Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address. " With malice towards none, with charity for all." The stated mission is to build bridges within the community through shared information and love of the Sport of Kings. It includes the following services: OVERVIEW:'General information regarding establishment and mission * Links to all major features of the Jousting League Website * Videos of featured jousting events * ABOUT US Timeline of the Jousting League’s formulation, mission, charter, goals, guiding principals and league organization. * ABOUT YOU Outline of ''Professional Code Of Conduct endorsed by many Tournament hosts. 'TRAINING: ' Overview of Jousting training, research and resources by Forester Lowenhart, Headmaster of the Double Dragon Academy, including: * Historical Timeline of significant groups and events in SL Jousting * Equipment used in Jousting, and resources where to obtain * Research on advanced freestyle Jousting techniques from DDA Master Classes * Resources for Jousting equipment in SL 'JOUST STANDINGS: ' Archive of joust standings posted for all major SL jousts. Includes list of top ten performers, winners for each event, location, date and special honors. Charts included show trends in number of attendees and prizes awarded. Featured pages include major groups offering multiple events: * League Standings for all jousts in SL hosted by many Realms. Email contact. Data compiled for past seasons since 2013. * SLTA Friday Intersim Joust Cry The Tournament. Link to SLTA website. Realm Rotation List. Email contact. Data compiled for past seasons since 2011. * DDA Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. Overview of Programs. Link to DDA website. Email contact. Data compiled for past seasons since 2013. * Reporting Form available for joust reporters. * Feature Posters for Special Events. * Charity Jousts such as Relay For Life events and Team Charity events. 'TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE: ' Highlights long-standing and continuous weekly jousts and a sampling of newer, weekly, bi-weekly and monthly jousts. Access to the STLA Calendar for times and location of major Tournament events. 'AWARDS & RECOGNITION: ' Lists major jousting awards available broken down by Award, Purse, Trophies available. Includes a ‘Hall Of Fame’ listing of past winners of major awards. '''MEDIEVAL HERALD BLOG Inclusion of an independent reporting journal covering significant news events within the jousting community. Governance Jousting League governance is on a volunteer basis. The group functions as a message board and no meetings are held. The Website provides all services and requires minimal updating by a Webmaster and various joust reporters to post results. The “Medieval Herald” blog is unaffiliated with its own reporting staff. Jousting League Volunteers *June 2013-January 2014: Kalvon Solo (Chair), Forester Lowenhart, Ricci Juliesse. *2014- June 2015: KaliVRahu, Forester Lowenhart, Nephilim Ventris *June 2015-Present: Various Realm Reporters, Webmaster. Challenges In June 2013, Forester Lowenhart, DDA Headmaster drew up plans for the League and shared with Celtic Isle’s Capt. Blinker who was asked to chair. A recommendation the group remain independent of the SLTA or any other special interest was adopted. A recommendation the group name be the same Blinker used for equipment sales, United Jousters was rejected. Difference of opinion arose over the point system the League would use. The SLTA had used a simple system for 5 jousts over the past 3 years of tracking results, whereas the Celtic system used a more complicated system for 1 joust over the past year. After the Jousting League was announced June 2013, nothing more was heard from Capt. Blinker until the United Jousters was announced near the end of the year. The chair for the Jousting League group moved to Kalvan Solo. The UJ’s structure mirrored the plans announced for the Jousting League such as notice rights and access to chat for all members. Those freedoms have remained a fixture of the Jousting League group but began to fade from the UJ in March of 2014. Reaction to Jousting League website announcement, published March 8, 2014, Medieval Herald Blog In March of 2014, the Jousting League launched a website for tracking joust results online amid criticism by UJ committee members that the site was copy of the UJ. Since both websites had coincidentally launched on the same day it was an impossible feat but received a full vetting in Medieval Herald blog. Accuracy of blog post and website originality challenged by two UJ committee members, published March 31, 2014, Medieval Herald Blog Another challenge arose over posting joust results online leading to a charge by the UJ chairperson the STLA was stealing UJ joust data. The SLTA posted their own results, no other, but the two Leagues differed over who owned the joust results. The UJ believed they did, and had barred the SLTA and DDA from directly posting joust results to their website, limiting that right to Team captains of jousts sanctioned by their group. The Jousting League believed any participant had the right to post their results regardless of affiliation, and allowed members of both Leagues to post their results. Sharing of point standings leads to lively debate, published March 17, 2014, Medieval Herald Blog Another challenge arose over the point system each League chose for tabulating results. The Jousting League applied a simple 1, 2, 3, 4 points to 4th, 3rd, 2nd and 1st placement. DDA Headmaster, Forester Lowenhart sent a notice encouraging both leagues work together on a simple shared point sytem. Other ‘points’ of view, published March 10, 2014, Medieval Herald Blog Failure to do increased the divide within the jousting community forcing many to double post their points in two systems, with no clear baseline to judge performance by. After a contested vote, the UJ chose the same system used by Celtic Isle the Jousting League had originally rejected. Public vote overturned as UJ points system is decided by Committee, published March 25, 2014, Medieval Herald Blog Awards The Jousting League accumulates point totals for all reported jousts in SL. Each year, it awards a first, second and third place trophy for the three individuals who gained the most points in a season. It is presented at the SLTA Anniversary. References